Under Brown, the Lakers struggled to an 0-3 start, the first time the Lakers have done so since 1978-79, the season before Jerry Buss bought the team. The Lakers gained their only win of the year against the Detroit Pistons. Their fourth loss of the season came to the Utah Jazz on Wednesday.

Mike Brown fired: After a 1-4 start, the Los Angeles Lakers have dumped their second-year coach.

According to multiple reports, assistant coach Bernie Bickerstaff will coach the Lakers on Friday against the Golden State Warriors.

Mike Brown issued the following statement on Friday afternoon: "I have great respect for the Buss family and the Lakers’ storied tradition and I thank them for the opportunity they afforded me. I have a deep appreciation for the coaches and players that I worked with this past year and I wish the organization nothing but success as they move forward.”

Brown began his tenure as coach at the start of the 2011-12 season, leading Los Angeles to a 41-25 record in the lockout-shortened 66-game season. The Lakers suffered a second-round exit from the NBA playoffs in a five-game loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Lakers were expected to make a big improvement over last year with the offseason acquisitions of Dwight Howard, Steve Nash and Antawn Jamison. Brown, a defensive coach, implemented assistant Eddie Jordan’s Princeton system, which became a source of frustration in Los Angeles as their big-name roster couldn't mesh on offense.

While mulling Brown’s firing, the Lakers' front office mentioned former Knicks coach Mike D’Antoni as a possible replacement in Los Angeles, according to Yahoo! Sports.